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Together to the top

LEADVILLE, Colo. — Five hundred feet to go. The squad-size group of veterans has been backpacking for about five hours, pushing up steep slopes and scrambling over boulder heaps here in the Rocky Mountains.

The 12,893-foot summit of Galena Mountain is in sight, but the pace is slow.

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Photos from the expedition

At this altitude, the members of the group struggle to catch their breath. High wind gusts and backpacks loaded with 50 to 60 pounds of gear, food and water also hinder progress.

It was just three days ago that these seven men and two women with Army, Air Force and Marine Corps backgrounds met for the first time.

Today, they are a unit. The strong have risen as leaders. The weaker members follow, drawing strength from those out in front.

Competition drives some forward. Blind fear propels others, fear of failure and letting the unit down.

Small words of encouragement mean the difference between giving up and pushing their mental and physical limits to reach the summit.

The Sept. 3-7 Outward Bound expedition is part of 1,500 free trips the nonprofit organization recently began offering to combat veterans. The idea behind the effort is to give veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflicts a chance to be among fellow vets and forge new friendships. Instructors facilitate discussions on readjustment and transition challenges associated with returning from a combat zone. It’s also a chance to build a new sense of confidence that comes from facing challenges in a wilderness setting.

It’s early afternoon on Sept. 5 when each member finally reaches the top of Galena — winded, tired and happy. Everyone drops their heavy packs and savors the view of the vast countryside below.

They dig into their packs for warmer layers and then gather together on the boulder-covered stretch of ground for an alpine lunch of summer sausage, cheese, crackers and trail mix.

The hardest part of the trip is now over, but unbeknownst to the veterans, they still have one more challenge to overcome before beginning the three-mile descent to camp.

Bob O’Rourke, one of two instructors on the course, gathers everyone in closer.

There is a “special physical exertion” that goes into climbing mountains, one that should not be wasted, he tells the group.

“This being a vets’ course, we like to leave something in remembrance for folks who aren’t going to climb any mountains,” O’Rourke says.

“This is usually where I get choked up.”

“We’ve all lost buddies,” the 63-year-old Vietnam veteran relates, his voice shaking with emotion. “And it’s good to say their names and remember them! Remember them on a mountain that you climbed!”

The retired Marine then asks the group to join him in adding to a small memorial rock pile started by veterans on previous courses.

“This is for Pfc. Johnnie Smith,” O’Rourke says, holding up a small stone. “He got shot May 6, 1968 and didn’t make it back to” Columbus, Ohio.

Without hesitation, each member of the group follows O’Rourke’s lead.

Some remember the close friends they’ve lost.

Marine Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rob Bender dedicates his rock to Staff Sgt. Brian Bland, “one of the Marines that was on a CH-53 that went down” in Iraq on Jan. 26, 2005.

Army National Guard Sgt. Vinnie Occhiena places a stone for Capt. Ernesto Blanco and Sgt. Trevor Blumberg, who were killed in Iraq in 2003, and Sgt. Israel Garcia, who was killed in Afghanistan earlier this year.

Others dedicate their stones to those they didn’t know personally but whose deaths affected them.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Wade Olsen names Staff Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin, who disappeared on April 9, 2004, west of Baghdad, when insurgents attacked his convoy using rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. Not until March 31, 2008, did the Army announce it had finally found his remains and a bit of his uniform.

“I didn’t know him personally, but when I was in Iraq, my team of interrogators devoted pretty much our entire time there trying to gather intelligence to get him home,” Olsen says.

Marine Staff Sgt. Justin Johnson lays a stone on the pile for Sgt. Michael T. Washington, a Marine who was killed earlier this year in Afghanistan.

“I did the death notification to his family about two months ago,” Johnson says. “That’s the hardest thing I ever did in my life — knock on someone’s door and tell them their son has been killed in action.”

After the last stone is placed, O’Rourke speaks once more.

“Remember this moment,” he says. “Remember the folks that didn’t make it up here and just try to live your lives like they would have lived theirs. Make it count for something because we are the lucky ones. We lived through it.

“No matter where you go … just remember you always have brothers and sisters and you are always networked; you are always connected. Even if you feel alone — you aren’t.

“And it’s good to let it out because we all need to. And don’t you ever forget it — I don’t care if it’s 40 years from now, and don’t you ever forget those people.”

Before leaving the windswept mountaintop, the group takes a few moments to absorb the experience. Some fight back tears; others stare blankly at the endless vista below.

The sadness of the moment quickly fades. On the whole, the Sierra Club-sponsored veterans courses aren’t about creating a group therapy setting. There are no classes on coping with combat stress; no easy formulas for re-entering civilian life.

“For veterans, this is an opportunity for them to be among comrades in a pretty, pristine environment with very basic necessities and a lot of physical activity,” said O’Rourke, who led this course with Outward Bound instructor and Coast Guard Lt. John Vonk.

“For a lot of them that come on the course, they are not still on active duty. They are back in their communities, and so as a result, don’t have a network. ... Many of them say this is their first opportunity to talk to anybody.”

O’Rourke has been leading these veterans courses for the past three of the six years he has worked for Outward Bound.

He served as a rifle platoon leader in the 1st Marine Division in Vietnam in 1968 following the Tet Offensive. His battalion suffered 111 Marines killed in action and received 600 Purple Hearts in the bloody fighting between Hue City and Phu Bia.

“I probably get as much out of this as they do because even though it’s been 40 years ... these are things you never forget in your life,” O’Rourke said, referring to the experience of combat. “These are events that are always with you; time doesn’t heal all wounds, actually.”

The bulk of the course focuses on basic wilderness skills such as setting up a group campsite — where to set up the shelters, where to put the kitchen and how to purify water from nearby streams.

The one skill the course teaches that surprised everybody is how to properly defecate in the woods.

Most of the veterans in this group were familiar with using a “cat hole” as an outdoor toilet. What stunned everyone was Outward Bound’s “leave no trace” philosophy, which frowns on burying toilet paper. Instead, smooth, fist-size stones, pine cones and leaves were the preferred method of cleanup.

For Air Force Staff Sgt. Vanessa Soto, the course was a completely new experience compared with her seven years of service as a supply technician.

“I’ve never camped before,” the Arizona Air Guard member said. “It was a big challenge for me.”

Soto deployed to Kuwait in 2002 and Qatar in 2007.

All daily tasks, such as getting water for meals, cooking and kitchen cleanup, are on a volunteer basis. Veterans do all the navigating on the course with little guidance from instructors.

“We are not mother-henning these guys,” O’Rourke said. “These people have so many skills and so much self-discipline. They self-organize. ... You give them something to do and there is no whining, no ‘Why do I have to do this?’ They get it done.”

The effect of this constant working-together tone clearly brings the group members closer. By the end of Day 3, they appear more relaxed, more willing to talk at evening group huddles.

All the group members said they felt good about the memorial ceremony on the mountaintop.

“Even though I’m in the Guard, it’s hard to relate,” Occhiena told group members. The 27-year-old Pennsylvania National Guard member served two tours in Iraq, from September 2003 to March 2004 and from September 2005 to February 2006, as a medic with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

“Most of my friends, they never went anywhere, they never did anything and they never served, so even though they try to understand — it’s hard because they don’t understand it. So when there is a bunch of people like us who have been there and done that and understand the whole thing, it’s a good relief to let it all out for a change.”

For others, the experience reminded them they still had the inner strength to conquer new challenges.

Aaron McLaughlin, who left the Marine Corps in 1995 after serving in Somalia, said there was one point on the ascension to the mountaintop where he questioned whether he “had the stuff” to finish.

Bender, another Marine in the group, looked at him and said, “Don’t go into your bubble,” McLaughlin recalled.

“He could look at me and tell I was fading,” the 35-year-old Florida attorney said. “He basically said ‘Get the hell up there,’ and it kind of reminded me a little of being in the Marines. … I wished I had been in a little better shape coming out here. But I made it.”

By the numbers

Feet to summit: 12,893

Pounds of gear: 50-60       

Number of men: 7

Number of women: 2

Days of trip: 5

Free trips offered by Outward Bound: 1,500

Age range: Oldest: 63 Youngest: 25